Dress Me Up! Tutorial from Modern Handcraft

We have a special guest on the blog today – Nicole from Modern Handcraft – and she’s sharing an amazing tutorial using our brand new line from Wee Gallery. Wild just began shipping to stores, so keep your eyes out for it!

I was so excited when I saw that Dear Stella was going to be carrying a Wee Gallery fabric line – I am very familiar with Wee Gallery‘s artwork (mom to a 2 year old) and loved seeing the amazing black and white prints come to life on fabric – so many possibilities! When I first saw the Wild line I instantly thought of about three things I wanted to do with it – the first of which I am going to show you today – how to create a fun Dress Me Up! Playmat.

This blanket can be used for the first few years of a child’s life – perfect size for a tummy time mat – large enough to use as toddler bedding – cozy couch throw for the elementary school years. What makes this blanket special is the added bonus of being the perfect backdrop for your child’s Dress Me creations. Using felt and scraps of fabric it is easy to create a large wardrobe for your little creature friends.

• Make your quilt sandwich: lay your bottom fabric right side facing down on the floor – layer your batting on top – lay your top fabric on top of the batting right side facing up. Baste with either a basting spray or with your basting pins. Quilt in a straight line pattern or a fun free motion pattern. With your rotary cutter, trim up ends and square up.

Step 2:

• For the binding I cut 2.5″ strips. Sew together into a long piece and iron in half longways.

• To create all of the animal’s clothing I took a plain piece of white paper and a pen and carefully traced their head, arms and legs. You can now draw clothing out on your body shapes and use the clothing as a template for your fabric and felt material. Some of the animals have their arms going up so make sure to make a variety of outfits – the more the merrier! Get creative by making hats, bows and even embroider little extras onto their clothing. You can also make outfits out of heavy cardstock, then color in!

Below are some ideas of outfits you can make – please share with us some of your clothing creations on Instagram and tag @dearstellafab!

This is just the cutest project, in the cutest fabric… Thanks! I love them all, but I think Safari Animals is my fave. Or maybe Sea Creatures. Or Lions and Tigers. Or maybe the Alphabet one. I can’t decide, ok?

At this point I will pick Safari Animals – I am a docent at the local zoo which is opening a new Heart of Africa section this year – lions, giraffes, zebras – all of those wonderful animals one may see on a safari. But the Dress Me fabric is unbelievably cute – my now grown girls would have loved it!

Great tutorial and beautiful collection! I can see how my little granddaughter Lily and her cousin Leon wear these little animals! : D Of course, it is the coolest Dress Me and all the colors of Hearts! But also Safari Animals, Garden Friends and Sea Creatures are wonderful! Am writing this comment although I do not know whether foreign also can participate in this giveaway?

So adorable and inviting! I’m thinking of making a little purse with this fabric that can be opened up (maybe a zipper on each side) and has a pocket on the inside that looks like a closet to hold the outfits. Perfect for my 6 year old niece to have for on-the-go play!